Name in the Whirlpool
by roterritter
Summary: Once, Yondaime was once a Genin himself before he ever became the Fourth Hokage, with Jiraiya for a teacher and some rather unique teammates of his own. He also had an unbreakable dream, but first he has to pass the bell test or get tied to the log!
1. Introduction

**Name in the Whirlpool**

By: roterritter

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Rating: T

Summary: Before Naruto was born, the village of Konoha had another blond haired boy with an unbreakable dream and was a member of Jiraiya's team of Genin. This is a story of the boy who will become the Fourth Hokage.

_A/N: This story features the Fourth's genin teammates. The only thing we have of them is a picture of them together in chapter 122/episode 72 with their teacher, Jiraiya. I've taken complete liberty with their names and their characters, since all know are what they look like. Since we've never seen the Fourth as a kid other than a picture, I've tried my best to make a younger version of Konoha's Yellow Flash that we saw in Kakashi Gaiden. Remember, this is only my interpretation of who they are. In the end, this is only a story. _

_I started writing this before I wrote Chapter 5 of Snakes and Foxes. This story is completely plotted out and will be much smaller than Snakes and Foxes. So don't worry, Snakes and Foxes will continue, I just wanted to get this out since I started posting again because of this story._

* * *

**Chapter 01 - Introduction **

To the children's eyes, the man stood tall as a mountain and had a deep voice that rumbled down like thunder from a mountaintop. The man had red strips down his stony face like crimson rivers and a spiky mane of white hair much like the snowy peaks of a mountain. Despite the color of his hair, he wasn't old, some might still consider him a young man, but to the children he was ancient.

He watched them carefully, almost glaring accusingly at them. He hadn't said a word to them, other than for them to meet at the top of the Hokage Tower. Now they sat comfortably on the rooftop underneath the peaceful gaze of the Hokage Monument while he looked at them with a somewhat annoyed expression.

_This has to be Sarutobi-sensei's revenge_, he thought to himself. _This is revenge for making his hair turn as white as my own natural hair color!_

The old man hadn't even bothered to tell him anything about them, which was surprising since it was customary for a teacher to know before hand some information about his or her new students. However, to be honest, Jiraiya knew the usual makeup, which told him everything he thought he needed to know. One would have high scores, another would have average scores, and the last would have low scores to balance things out. Being one of the Sannin, it was likely the high scorer was a genius.

_Wonderful, my own little Orochimaru, on the other side I have to put up with the low scorer. _He smiled at the thought. _But my hair is already white. _

Unfortunately, Jiraiya was well aware which one of the three of his team that he was, but he had worked hard to prove that low scores meant little.

_Oh well, time to get to work. _

"Listen up, kiddies!" he yelled as he entered a dramatic pose, one arm pointed at them with his palm facing them and his fingers spread out. "Let me introduce myself!"

He watched the eyes of three ten-year-old kids locking onto him with their attention fully on him. Two of them had rather serious faces for ones so young, the third was a blond haired boy with a wide smile and bright blue eyes who made up for them both.

"I am a great shinobi. People are so much in awe of me that I leave no enemies wherever I travel. I am the white-haired frog tamer, one of the Legendary Sannin! You should be thankful that I'm teaching you because I'm the great Jiraiya-sama!"

As expected, there was star struck silence, until…

"Wow! He is so cool!" yelled the blond boy.

Jiraiya smiled in appreciation, but he quickly frowned when he saw the girl turn to the boy and glare at him.

"Idiot," she muttered.

The older ninja sighed. They were a unique bunch, not that his own team had been very ordinary when Sarutobi-sensei started teaching them. Surely, it had to be revenge, the old man picked the teams after all. The Hokage always picked the teams, trying to find the right teacher for the students and the right teammates for each other. However, looking at these three, he had his doubts.

"Alright now, why don't you introduce yourselves? Why don't you tell me your name, likes, hates, dreams, and hobbies? Who's first?"

"Why don't you go first sensei?" asked the blond boy politely. The boy appeared to be the cheerful type. He wore a simple blue tracksuit with a hood, which was not very ninja looking. Jiraiya thought he was a cute kid and may grow up handsome like him and was probably already popular with the girls, yet not apparently this one.

_A ten year old boy with too much energy. He looks like he will be a handful, but then again he did think I was cool,"_ he smiled to himself. _However, he's probably the lowest score. _

"Okay, like I already said, my name is Jiraiya. My likes are…" He stopped, his smile vanished as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

_"Can't tell them that one, Sarutobi-sensei will kill me if I corrupt these kids."_

"My hobbies are…"

_"Oops, can't tell them that either!"_

"My…dreams…are…"

_"To meet a beautiful woman who will set my heart afire! Nope, not that one either."_

"Well lets just say they are sophisticated things that you children won't understand," he finally managed with a sly smile.

"Can't you tell us anything?" whined the blond boy.

"And I hate people who don't know the right way to ask for something!" Jiraiya gave him a glare, but the boy looked more disgruntled at the lack of information than fearful.

"But sensei, that didn't tell us anything," said the second boy.

"Well then, why don't show us how it's done?"

The second boy stood out by his weight alone. The boy didn't even have to tell him his name without Jiraiya already having a good idea what clan in Konoha he had been born to, but oddly enough, he had a very short haircut and wore dark green traditional clothes, which alone made him stand out from the modern clothes of his teammates.

"My name is Akimichi Chouichi," said the boy. "I like barbeque and my hobby is buying snacks. I dislike being called fat and my dreams are to show everyone the true skills of the Akimichi clan."

"Ah, an honorable goal," agreed Jiraiya. The Akimichi were one of Konoha's noble clans, but due to their weight, they sometimes had a negative reputation compared to the Hyuuga or Uchiha clans. However, they had several secret techniques that used their large size and food energy to their advantage.

"Me next sensei!" said the blond boy, waving his hand in the air franticly.

"You're next," Jiraiya pointed to the girl with a smile.

"Ah!" The boy's hand froze in midair. Chouichi smiled at the blond boy's antics, but the girl just gave the boy a brief look of irritation.

The girl had black hair with long bangs falling over a red headband and concealing her eyes. She had the rest pulled into a topknot. She wore a large purple coat with yellow stripes on the shoulders. She had the collar rolled down, revealing the light blue interior of the coat. The collar would have been tall if it were unrolled. The coat was oversized a bit, enough to give her a rather nondescript appearance underneath it and even sitting down she appeared to be hiding within it.

"My name is Shinobu," she said softly. Her voice was cool and collected, "From the Aburame clan."

Jiraiya merely watched her, concealing his surprise and acting clueless to what that actually meant. The Aburame was another one of Konoha's noble clans, but they were a great deal more mysterious than the Akimichi and for good reason. What little he knew of them would give him shivers if he thought about it and it was pity, Shinobu would grow up to be beautiful, except for what was underneath…

"My likes…I don't like anything. My dream…to be the best ninja of the Aburame," she said, but Jiraiya could sense she didn't have the same conviction that Chouichi had with his similar goal.

Jiraiya realized he had seen coats like that before, they were trademark of the Aburame, long coats with tall collars to help conceal their unique nature. It was a little unusual to see an Aburame have their coat collar rolled down like that, but she was also missing a pair of sunglasses. However, her bangs covered her eyes well enough.

Of course, Jiraiya realized the sunglasses weren't really for covering their eyes. There were many in Konoha who didn't know they mysteries of the Aburame clan, but Jiraiya had personally seen an Aburame ninja in combat. He had seen the chakra-eating destruction bugs march from out of holes under the man's eyes. The amount of bugs that came crawling out of him meant the coat concealed other possible exits from his body. Jiraiya had also seen those same bugs attack another ninja, eating at his chakra and biting him with poisonous mandibles until he died.

Jiraiya never really forgot the sight of the Aburame man's skin rippling as so many bugs were crawling underneath it at once. It didn't disgust him…he would have no problems teaching Shinobu. It was just disturbing.

_An Aburame and an Akimichi, both from noble clans. One of them is probably the genius, although I have to admit, I've never seen a genius from either clan. The Uchiha and the Hyuuga are better known for those types. I'm not sure what to expect._

"My turn!" the blond boy announced.

_Of course, that means he's the lowest score, although that isn't surprising. _Jiraiya had to resist a chuckle at that.

The girl's discomfort turned to annoyance as she turned toward the blond boy. "Of course, it's your turn, you're last."

"All right, all right, your turn," said Jiraiya with an amused smile.

The boy nearly sat up in excitement. "I like ramen! I don't really dislike anything and my hobbies are-"

"Whoa, there," Jiraiya told him while waving his hand a little bit to slow the boy down. "Why don't you tell us your name?"

"Oh, my name is Kayaku!"

"Kayaku? Don't you put that on ramen?"

"That's my name!"

"Alright then, what clan?"

"Err…no clan." The boy chuckled softly.

"Then what family?"

"No family either," Kayaku said. He wasn't even looking at Jiraiya anymore and he wasn't smiling.

"He's an orphan," Shinobu said calmly. "But everyone feels sorry for him so they treat him special."

"They do not!"

"The mothers make sure he's well fed and his friends invite him over at night. So, it's not like he lacks attention."

"Shinobu!"

"There's nothing really special about him." Shinobu gave Kayaku a sly smile, she apparently delighted in tormenting him.

"Shut up!" Kayaku's smile was gone and he was looking at her fiercely with sharp blue eyes. "I had the best sco—"

"QUIET!" Jiraiya stood up again, letting his physical presence speak for itself to stop anything before it started. "I see we have a lot of work to do and you two definitely have a lot of energy so lets go for our first training season."

"But sensei, I didn't get to tell about my dream!" yelled Kayaku.

"That's alright, save it for later! Now lets go!"

* * *

Jiraiya led them to Practice Area 3, a forest area filled with tall trees and a river running through area, enclosed by a tall fence with barred wire to keep out unauthorized individuals. It was a special training area and one very familiar to him. 

"This is it! It's a good area to train in for genin like yourselves and I practiced here myself when I was your age," he explained as they followed him. They finally arrived to a small open area with three wooden poles. He smiled at them as he remembered old memories back when he and his two teammates were young and innocent.

"What sort of training are we going to do, sensei?" asked Kayaku. His friendly attitude was back, although he and Shinobu hadn't spoken a word to each other since.

"You are going to like this!" Jiraiya pulled out two bells hanging from strings that he had hidden in his pocket. They jingled at the motion and the kids looked at him as if he was crazy. "There are two bells and three of you. You each need to attack me and try to get a bell. Whoever fails gets tied to one of those logs for the rest of the day."

"WHAT!"

**Next Chapter: Ready, Start!** _

* * *

__Author's Note: If Kayaku didn't come across as a younger Fourth, then wait till the second chapter. I've got that already written, just need to edit it, but I feel he's much more like Konoha's Yellow Flash when he's in action. _

_Just a footnote about the Fourth's name, I've searched the fan forums high and low for some idea what to name the Fourth. I liked the fan favorite name, Arashi, until the anime used it for a filler character. I decided to use Kayaku, because the characters almost match the Fourth's scribbling on the frog summoning scroll and it is also something put on ramen, just like naruto, which seemed very appropriate. _

_I tried not to make the young Yondaime a clone of Naruto. Based on Jiraiya and Tsunade's comments he was talented, smart, and popular. Jiraiya once said the only thing similar was the color of their hair and their stubbornness, of course that could be a comment just to annoy Naruto so it may not be completely true. However, I decided to leave out Naruto's loudmouth and clumsy traits, deciding that he might have inherited those from his mother instead, which works out with my other story. (in fact, I would say Name in the Whirlpool takes place in the same continuity as Snakes and Foxes)_

_Just to avoid confusion: Chouji's father's name is Chouza. He is a different person than Chouichi. For the purpose of this story Chouichi is another member of the Akimichi (just how he's related I haven't decided), but he is not Chouji's father. _

_Also, at some point the name Choumaru was believed to be Chouji's father, but as of the second official databook it was stated as Chouza._

* * *

Version 1.2 

1.0: Original.

1.1: Added Note about Chouza/Chouji/Chouichi

1.2: Added Note about Choumaru


	2. Ready, Start!

**Name in the Whirlpool**

A/N: This is another chapter I wrote before Chapter 5 of Snakes and Foxes. I'm writting Chp 6 of SaF now so it'll be updated again soon.

Here is an explanation on how I choose these characters who they are. I've searched the forum boards for ideas, but chose one that was obvious and one unthought-of from what I'd seen. Both are members of clans established in canon, even if the characters themselves are original, I'm going to keep them very much members from their clans, but with a few variations to keep them unique and not carbon copies.

Chouichi: To me the one to the left of the picture is an Akimichi. He has the squinty eyes that Chouji and his father get and he also has a wide face. Now, don't mistake this character for Chouji's father. Chouji's father is Chouza (offiicial name from Databook 2 although some know him as Choumaru) and Chouza was on the original InoShikaChou team. He maybe Chouza's brother or cousin, but I don't think it particularly matters which in this story. Someone suggested Ibiki (I've seen that in the forum too), but according to the Databook Ibiki is 27 at the beginning of the series (he does look older, but Anko is the only character I'll ever challenge their age). That make him 15 when Naruto was born, which was too young. I still liked that he was an Akimichi,I have an idea that would separate him from the others and still be a logical extension of what an Akimichi could do.

Shinobu: She was the difficult one. No one really knows if the middle character in the picture is a boy or a girl. I assumed girl since nearly every major team has had the 2 boys and 1 girl dynamic. Someone suggested she was a Hyuuga, but even the manga version of the picture has her eyes darkened. The forums often suggest her being another Uchiha, but I feel the Uchiha are overused and wanted something unique. I kept thinking about the funny looking collar and decided it might have been an Aburame collar rolled down. I liked the idea of a female Aburame character and went with it.

However, once I decided that, I realized one thing: my version of Jiraiya's team had one member who was similar to one member on each of the 3 rookie teams. Yondaime is like Naruto from Team 7. Chouichi is like Chouji from Team 10 and Shinobu is like Shino from Team 8. That made it look really well balanced.

* * *

**Chapter 02 – Ready, Start!**

_A basic for a ninja is to conceal his presence and hide. _

Jiraiya looked around, happy that his new students had vanished so well into the trees and foliage. Even a Ninja Academy graduate shouldn't let things like unusual colors of clothing to prevent them from blending into their environment perfectly.

Of course, that didn't stop him from looking for bright blond hair or a red headband.

He stood around while he waited for the first kid to make their move. Traps could come later. Whoever was brave enough to try first should have an honest try at it.

Jiraiya actually smiled when he heard the familiar sound of shuriken slicing through the air. He didn't have much to fear, he was standing in open ground with plenty of room to avoid them, and their speed was limited to as much force a ten-year-old could muster.

He quickly judged the origin of the two shuriken while they were still in flight. He smiled as he ducked below them and locked his eyes on that location.

"Idiot," he muttered. Kayaku's blond hair and blue clothes stood out like a sore thumb in the middle of a tree's greens and browns. The boy stood on one of the larger branches; his determined eyes locked right on him.

Jiraiya quickly drew out a kunai from his holster, aimed, and threw it in one smooth motion. It flew much faster and more accurately than the boy's attempt, but it was still easily avoidable from this distance by the average ninja.

_Move it…Move it…Move it_, Jiraiya chanted as he realized the boy wasn't moving. _Idiot, why aren't you moving? You're looking right at it!_

"Idiot!" Jiraiya started running the moment he saw the kunai hit and the boy's form disappear. He expected it come crashing down the tree.

_This can't be happening! I'm supposed to be teaching them, not getting them killed! _

When he reached the base of the tree, he quickly looked around for the signs of a body. If he was lucky, he could have just winged him and could call it a tough lesson for not dodging.

However, he found nothing, not even drops of blood. He looked up examining the branches. It was a majestic tree, old yet still sturdy. The trunk was much wider than a man at the base was and it was several stories higher than most towers he had seen. Its branches spread out and filled with lots of green leaves to provide plenty of places to hide within the shadows that were only broken by the occasional beam of sunlight that broke through.

_Couldn't have been a Replacement, I would have noticed it, but what did I hit? I'm certain those shuriken came from that branch, they're no others close to it. _

Determined to get to the bottom of it…or rather the top, Jiraiya jumped up to branch to branch until he reached the one he was sure was the origin of the attack.

He didn't find a body or even blood. What he did find was his kunai sticking in the trunk of the tree, apparently it never strayed from its path when he threw it. Then, what did he hit?

"Okay, boy," Jiraiya chuckled as he crouched down and pulled the kunai from the wood. "I admit you're smarter than you look." He suddenly reached down and grabbed a small hand barely touching a bell. "But not smart enough."

"Damn it," the boy cursed as he twisted in Jiraiya's grasp. Jiraiya looked down and saw the boy reaching from underneath the branch, only he wasn't standing on another branch, but actually attached to the underside of the same branch through chakra.

"Impressive, using tree climbing to hide your position." Jiraiya was truly impressed. It wasn't usual for someone so young and a recent graduate to know how to climb a tree through attaching their feet to the tree with chakra. "What was it I saw?"

"A clone," the boy spoke through gritted teeth as he struggled vainly against the grasp of the much stranger older ninja.

"Ah."

_I see, he knew his attack would reveal his position, but I was expecting someone at the top of the branch, not attacked to the bottom. Just to confirm my expectations he left a clone in his place. A smart move, too bad he was still too far away to do any real damage. _

The boy's feet suddenly detached from the underneath the branch. Jiraiya instinctively started to pull the boy up; fearing the boy's chakra ran out and was about to fall, but suddenly the boy's leg nimbly swung up and kicked his hand hard, smashing a finger.

Although, a smashed finger wasn't going to keep him from hold the boy's wrist, Jiraiya saw the boy was determined to be free and decided to let go to see what he could do.

Kayaku fell, but not very far. He reached out and grabbed a tree branch he stood on. No, not grab, Jiraiya decided…attached! _Impressive, he used his chakra to attach his hands to the branch instead of using his feet._

Using that branch, he skillfully swung him onto another and landed on his feet, the next to last branch to the bottom. It was a small branch and Jiraiya knew he couldn't follow without it snapping under his weight, but Kayaku was fine as he ran to the trunk of the tree and disappearing from Jiraiya's sight.

Jiraiya looked around the tree and realized it was an impressive makeshift maze. By using chakra manipulation to climb a tree, the boy could use his size and speed to move around the huge tree without the problems that Jiraiya's heavier form had. However, he knew if he leapt back down to the ground, he would only be a sitting target for more shuriken.

Rather than standing still for the impending attack, Jiraiya leapt up to the next highest branch. It was just in time as he heard a shuriken embed itself into the tree limb where he was standing.

_Damn, that shuriken had to come from above, but did he get above me already?_

The branch he stood on started to bow under his weight and he had to jump again, but this time he narrowly missed a pair of kunai that fell to the ground, with gravity alone making them deadly missiles. He couldn't even run up the trunk or else be an easy target.

"Hey!" he yelled up. He couldn't see the boy, past the beams of light that managed to filter in through the cracks between collections of leaves. "Don't use up all your kunai yet!"

Jiraiya kept jumping higher and higher at greater speeds now, almost like he was jumping from one huge step to another in a gigantic spiral staircase. The occasional shuriken or kunai flew by, but the higher he got the less the weapons were falling directly down until they eventually stopped.

"Are you out?"

"Almost," the boy confirmed, almost cheerfully. It was the first Jiraiya had seen of him in minutes. Kayaku was breathing hard and his hair glistened with sweat. It was obvious his stamina was nearly gone, he had used too much chakra to get this far up in the tree, but the fire in his eyes told Jiraiya he wasn't giving up yet. "But I did save one kunai like you said."

The boy moved into action, attaching his feet to the tree trunk, he ran down toward Jiraiya. The older ninja blocked the kunai easily, but the boy quickly turned and ran _around_ the tree trunk.

Jiraiya struggled to maneuver on the slender branch he stood on to turn around in time. I barely made it time to block another jab from Kayaku's kunai.

The creaking and snapping sounds were alarm enough for Jiraiya to jump down to the next branch. Kayaku followed, literally, by jumping down feet first aimed for Jiraiya's face!

The older ninja easily blocked the kick with his arm since only gravity added the kick instead of muscle, but Kayaku kicked out against his forearm, propelling him out to another branch.

After somersaulting and attaching himself to another branch, Kayaku reached into his pouch and threw his last three shuriken with a wide spread. This time he was closer and Jiraiya didn't have benefit of being able to freely move anywhere to dodge in time.

Yet, it still wasn't enough as Jiraiya easily took the kunai in his hand and skillfully blocked each one. He slipped his finger through the ring on the end and twirled it around quickly to show off a little before slipping it back into its holster.

"Tell me," Jiraiya asked in a friendly tone as he casually folded his arms around his chest. "How did you learn the tree climbing trick? I didn't think they taught that at the Academy."

"They don't," the boy said. "They just taught it to me."

"What?"

"When every one else is being trained by their family or clan members and learning secret techniques or whatever, the Academy teachers taught me chakra exercises to keep me out of trouble. They never would teach me something different!"

Kayaku looked a little upset by that, but Jiraiya smiled. _Mastering chakra exercises while he's still young will go a long way to help him master any technique he tries in the future. Just hanging below that branch for as long as he did was impressive, but there is no reason to let him get cocky. _

Jiraiya looked down and noticed they were nearly to the ground again and there really wasn't any more branches left to jump from. It was just as well as Kayaku physically pulled himself onto the top of the branch, signally perhaps he had little stamina left to turn to chakra in order to attach his feet again.

With that, Jiraiya made his move.

He skillfully jumped down to the last branch, placing himself between the trunk and Kayaku. His own weight made it shudder and swing wildly; the boy clutched it fearfully now that he didn't have chakra to attach himself to it.

"A ninja must always be aware of his surroundings," Jiraiya told him before slamming his foot down on the branch. He watched with amusement as the branch broke and the boy swung his arms in the air as no amount of chakra was going to keep him in midair.

Jiraiya wasn't actually afraid that the boy would be hurt. A common way for a ninja to travel through a forest was by jumping from branch to branch. Thus, it was a requirement that Academy students be taught to take a fall without breaking some bones.

In fact, Kayaku didn't fall far before jumping off to a more controlled drop. Jiraiya watched him as he rolled to a stop before jumping down himself.

"You're an interesting fellow, aren't you?" he asked with amusement.

"I'm not finished!"

The boy got back to his feet and ran toward Jiraiya. The older ninja was surprised again as the boy was actually quite fast. When the boy swung his fist, Jiraiya blocked it. When he swung out his leg, Jiraiya blocked that too. Despite his size, Jiraiya didn't have any trouble blocking the small boy, who was already exhausted from his attacks in the tree.

"Your fast, perhaps I'll teach you a ninja technique. I'll demonstrate." Jiraiya backed away from Kayaku suddenly and performed the proper seals. "Body Flicker Technique can be used when trying to escape." A miniature cyclone of leaves wrapped around Jiraiya as he disappeared from in front of the boy. "Or when to attack suddenly from behind!"

Kayaku stood completely still as he felt the edge of a kunai at his throat. If his new teacher were serious, he would be dead.

"You can't win with such normal attacks. If you want to win, you'll have to try harder."

"I told you, the teachers only teach me chakra exercises. I don't know anything else!"

"In society those who don't have many abilities tend to complain more. Just ignore the guy with the lowest score," Jiraiya said grimly.

Perhaps it was a good thing Jiraiya was behind him or he would have seen the death glare the normally smiling boy was unleashing.

"Sensei," the boy said in an eerily calm and unwavering voice. "For the record, I had the top score!"

Before Jiraiya could respond, Kayaku threw down a handful of smoke bombs and disappeared under the thick cloud.

The boy spoke under the cover of the smoke. "I do have one special attack I made myself."

Jiraiya turned toward the sound of the voice and held his kunai in a defensive position. Is eyes searched the cloud for any movement.

Again, the boy spoke, but he was clearly using the smoke to mask his position. "Konoha's Secret Supreme Taijutsu Attack."

_What? _Jiraiya thought to himself before he felt a sharp pain from behind.

"One Thousand Years of Pain!"

The forest of Practice Area 3 suddenly filled with screams of one of the Legendary Sannin. From the comforts of their hiding places, Shinobu and Chouichi had to wonder just what did their teammate do to their new teacher? That is, did they want to know?

* * *

**Next Chapter: Next!** (will Kayaku survive what horrible punishment he will no doubt get? the rest of the team makes their attacks!) 

_A/N: The Kakashi version of the bell test has some differences with Sarutobi's version, but I thought the similarities meant they were passed on from Sarutobi to Jiraiya then from Jiraiya to Yondaime and finally from Yondaime to Kakashi. Anything new was introduced either by Yondaime or by Kakashi. In Kakashi's version, his line about anyone abandoning a friend was worse than trash is Obito's line in Kakashi Gaiden, so that is definitely his. However, in Kakashi Gaiden, Yondaime was big on teamwork being the most important thing. Sarutobi's test didn't seem to have anything about teamwork in it, so my assumption this is something Yondaime introduced into the chain. _

_On that note, there is no origin for the Thousand Years of Pain taijutsu move that I know of, but with such an over dramatic name for a perverted move, I figured a kid created it. Young Kakashi didn't seem the type to create such a move, but with so many other elements of the bell test repeating I figured someone used it. I figured with the similarities between Yondaime and Naruto it is appropriate that Yondaime created his own perverted technique as a kid. (I know it actually translates as One Thousand Years of Death, but Pain sounds better)_

_I did keep the actual use vague just so wouldn't have to write the more perverted or disturbing aspect of it, but I had to include it because I thought it was one more thing to connect the other tests together. _

Version 1.1

1.0: Original

1.1: Added the name Choumaru to the first A/N.


	3. Next!

**Name in the Whirlpool**

_A/N: Thank you for the reviews! I wanted to clear up some confusion from the previous chapters. I hope this helps._

_Chouichi is an original character created by me, based on the picture from chapter 122/episode 72 and the names, personalities, and skills of Chouji and Chouji's father (Chouza according to the official Databook 2). Chouichi is as similar and unique to them as any family member might be. As a clan member, he shares the physical traits, skills, and the same first syllable of their names (like many father-child characters in Naruto). The same applies to Shinobu and the Aburame clan. _

_Kayaku is the young Fourth Hokage, but as a ten-year-old, he does not have the high rank techniques of his older self. Instead, in the story he uses or learns basic techniques that can be basic variations or inspiration for his signature techniques. Chakra control exercises for Rasengan and Body Flicker (Shunshin) for Flying Thunder God Technique (Hiraishin). A Shunshin is only a D-rank technique used by many ninja and was used correctly by Jiraiya in the last chapter, that scene only implied he would learn Shunshin, which would be a logical basic skill before creating Hiraishin one day in the future. The One Thousand Years of Death was also used just to show Kayaku could create his own technique (taijutsu move in this case). If there is a canon origin then I haven't found it…if there is…oh well, it's just a fan fic._

* * *

**Chapter 03 – Next!**

_There's no use using normal attacks._

Aburame Shinobu watched the inevitable end to Kayaku's turn. As she expected he didn't fare well. She watched for some sign of weakness in her teacher, but in the end she only came to one conclusion…

"Idiots."

She had been hiding in the same spot for nearly half an hour. She had found an old tree near the river, its declining age obvious in its dark, rough bark, gnarled, and twisted limbs. Her tree had a great contrast to the majestic one Kayaku had chosen and she had to climb up it the old fashion way, but she told herself that the effectiveness of the trap was what mattered.

She knew she wasn't going to win by hand-to-hand combat, which she knew she had no talent in. However, she knew weapons would do little against a man who could easily block her incoming attack and figure out her position in the trees.

Basic Academy techniques weren't going to do it either. Shinobu was reluctant to admit that she would have to rely on _them_ or else she would never get a bell.

Shinobu moved her fingers along her other arm, gently caressing her skin until she could feel a set of holes bored into her skin. They still hurt and perhaps they always would, making her realize why everyone in he clan moved as little as possible, not just to avoid disturbing the bugs, but to also avoid as much discomfort as possible.

She was only ten years old yet she already knew what her body really was, a mobile hive made of skin and bone for thousands of tiny dark bugs that lived and died within her. Ever since she had realized that, she hasn't been very happy. She was only thankful that so far the bugs hadn't bored their holes into her face, allowing her to hide what she was a little longer.

Shinobu moved her hand away from her other arm and pulled a kunai out. The kunai alone wasn't important.

She closed her eyes, pleaded with the bugs inside her, and waited for the itchy crawling feeling under her skin as a handful of bugs marched out from holes hidden underneath her sleeves and onto the kunai.

"You better hold on," she told them, although she knew they didn't need her words to know that. She sat and waited for the right moment, trying to remind herself that the Aburame were cool, collected, and not easily annoyed by the incessant buzzing underneath her skin and the never-ending movement she felt inside her.

* * *

"What kind of attack was that? Idiot!" 

Jiraiya's ranting had gone on like that for quite a while. He was yelling at Kayaku, who had no choice but to listen, well mostly because he was stuck.

While his smoke screen was an effective trick to hide him, it worked too well. Jiraiya had disappeared again. He quickly turned around expecting another attack from behind, but he never expected it from below!

"Earth Element Double Suicide Decapitation Technique" had been the last thing he heard before being pulled into the ground with only his head sticking out. He thought he could pull himself out easily, but at the moment with an angry Jiraiya above him, he thought he was safer in the ground.

"You have no talent!" Jiraiya rubbed his head and sighed, "What did I do to deserve a student like you?"

Kayaku realized the situation had gotten out of hand the worse thing he wanted was to have disappointed his new teacher on the first day, but before he could get a word out he spotted something flying out of the trees near the river.

Jiraiya heard it rather than saw it and turned around quickly, drew a kunai of his own out of his hip holster, and blocked it on one smooth motion. "What, this again? Don't you kids have any other attacks?"

"AH!"

Jiraiya turned and noticed the kunai he blocked had landed dangerously close to Kayaku's head. "Oops, sorry," he chuckled, but turned serious again. "I'll deal with you later," he told the boy before disappearing with another gust of wind and leaves.

"Hey wait a minute!" the boy yelled, but it was too late. He looked at the kunai glumly, but then he noticed something.

"Bugs!" With a kunai covered in bugs less than a foot away from his head, the boy started squirming as much as possible to escape his earthy prison.

* * *

Jiraiya calculated the origin of the kunai just like before with Kayaku's shuriken, but this time he was taking his time. He didn't expect the same trap like Kayaku's clever tree attack, but he knew with Kayaku out of the way it meant the kunai came from one of the two from the noble clans. 

After Kayaku's idiotic perverted attack, he quickly decided the boy couldn't have been the genius no matter how high his scores were. Surely, the Akimichi boy or the Aburame girl was the genius and thus the most dangerous of the three.

He passed by the river and remembered falling in it himself due to one of Sarutobi-sensei's traps. Maybe later he would torment Kayaku some more before tying him the log after he took care of the rest.

A thoughtful smile left his face as he saw the old tree from which the attack came. He could see the side of a purple sleeve of a coat sticking out behind the tree.

_What a disappointment, did she throw the kunai and hide hoping I wouldn't see her?_

He made his way around the tree and the bushes around it. He prepared himself, deciding that perhaps a simple genjutsu would be enough to teach her a lesson.

"Shinobu—" There was nothing there but an empty purple coat pinned to the tree by a kunai. "What?"

Jiraiya looked around wildly, she had actually surprised him, he never once imagined Shinobu, an Aburame, would be willing to take off her coat. In fact, he had never seen an Aburame without their oversized, tall collared coats. He suspected it was to hide the bugs constantly moving over and under their skin. The few he had met absolutely refused to remove them, especially the women even after his not so subtle and perverted attempts at asking them. That had earned him more than a few bug bites.

He didn't have long to think about her location as a rope yanked his feet into the air, causing him to release an embarrassing yelp over the initial discomfort of having his feet pulled above his head.

_Damn, I fell for this stupid trap!_ He thought as the blood rushed to his head. The tree branch the rope was tied to creaked under his weight. He wasn't as small as he was back when he fell for the trap over and over during Sarutobi-sensei's bell test and the last thing he wanted was to fall and land on his head.

"Is this the best you could do?" he asked stoically, hiding the humiliation of being caught in a simple snare again.

"I'm not finished," said her soft, passionless voice as Shinobu slid out from under the bushes she had been hiding under. Without her coat, she wore a simple black top, which was sleeveless, no doubt to allow easy exits for her bugs. From this height, they looked like ordinary arms, covered with a few dark spots, like birthmarks, but he knew differently.

She formed her hands into a hand seal and closed her eyes in concentration.

_buzz_

Jiraiya wasn't surprised to hear the sound of bugs. He looked around, but couldn't see them yet. However, it was a common Aburame strategy, one attack to distract to allow the bugs to attack from behind.

He calmly looked up at the rope that around his ankles and led up the tree branch. He expected to see black destruction bugs marching down it, but he saw nothing. He wasn't afraid, he knew he was large for the average sized man and had lots of chakra to match. The basic use of destruction bugs was to eat their opponent's chakra, but with only thousands that could fit inside the ten year old girl, it wouldn't be enough to slow him down.

_buzz_

The sound was getting closer yet he still couldn't see them. He knew the bugs could fly, they could swarm around the Aburame's body as they released them, but typically when they attacked they marched toward their victim.

_buzz_

The first bug flew in front of his vision and Jiraiya's eyes widened or horror. It wasn't a dark destruction bug, but a black and yellow bee! "Now wait a minute!"

"Aburame can also communicate with insects and control them," she told him. "I choose this tree specifically because it had a beehive."

"Ouch!" he yelled after the first bee stung him. He swiped at them, but it only caused the rope to swing back and forth and the tree branch to creak even more.

He looked down at her in irritation. He had said to come after him with the will to kill him, but this abuse was going to far! He looked down and noticed she was underneath him with her hand outstretched. He severely doubted she intended to catch him when the branch broke above him, but she looked like she expected something to drop.

_The bells!_

Jiraiya quickly looked up or rather down from his perspective and saw the bells dangling from his belt by their white strings. Except one of the strings was completely covered by dark destruction bugs, chewing on the strings!

_How did they get there so fast. I didn't see any of them craw down the rope! _Jiraiya quickly searched his memory. _The kunai! I thought it had been rather useless to throw a kunai after I showed I could block Kayaku's shuriken so well. She had the bugs on it and they must have jumped off and onto me as I blocked them!_

"A pretty good trick, the bees are only a distraction," he managed through gritted teeth. He might have been pleased if it wasn't for the pain. The bees had already stung him several times. "But you are going to have to do better than that!"

_Body Replacement Technique._

* * *

Shinobu quickly back stepped out of the way, as a figure made of mud dropped down to the ground into a thick puddle, nearly covering her. The bees dissipated now that their target was gone and Jiraiya had disappeared. 

_Body Replacement Technique_, she thought to herself as she inspected the puddle. _A technique that allows the user to quickly replace themselves with another object. I've seen other Aburame do it with bugs, but mud is a little strange._

She paused as she noticed something gold shining in the sunlight, nearly covered by the mud.

"A bell!" She reached down with smile. "So my destruction bugs worked after all!"

"Not quite."

She turned and saw Jiraiya standing there with a smirk on his face despite the new welts. "Don't fall for an obvious trap."

Shinobu didn't have time to comprehend the words as a rope yanked her into the air upside down. The snare had been hidden in the mud and her fingers never even had a chance to touch the bell. "Ah!"

Jiraiya reached down, picked up the bell, and reattached it to his belt after carefully checking more destruction bugs. "That was a good trick. I never expected you to use your coat as a decoy. You're different than I expected. I've met a few Aburame women in my day and never managed to convince them to reveal their pretty faces."

"Pervert," she managed calmly while the rope still managed to swing her a little back and forth.

"Hey! It's not nice to call your teacher a pervert. Especially when I haven't done anything perverted yet!" To be honest he was trying hard to be on his best behavior the whole time and not to, as Tsunade would have put it, to corrupt their fragile young minds.

She looked down, and saw the edge of the river that the old tree stood near. The branch itself leaned a little too far over the water itself, with the swing of the rope she sometimes hovered over that edge. Her eyes looked at the water nervously. _No…fearfully_, Jiraiya thought to himself.

It was the same branch he hanged from, but he guessed she hadn't picked the tree by planning to end up upside down it herself. He hadn't been afraid of the nearby water when he hanged from it, but he felt a little concerned over the look in her eyes.

_My only weakness is women. _

He moved forward, prepared to cut the rope and lower her down. He decided he would tie her to one of the logs before he took care of the last one.

**CRASH!**

Nearby small trees and branches flew into the air into splintered pieces. Jiraiya looked up above as a giant spherical shape smashed right through them in midair and was flying toward him like a cannonball.

_What a guy! That's a C-rank technique, not something a ten year old graduate of the Academy should be able to do. I guess that makes the Akimichi kid my genius. _

Jiraiya just barely had time to think all this as the giant ball came crashing down with the entire momentum gather from being launched from one of the taller trees.

_However, as impressive as using the momentum of the height he jumped from, if I dodge now he'll hit the tree and Shinobu. It's possible he could even kill her with this amount of force. I'll lecture him on that later. _

Jiraiya tried to anchor his feet to the ground with his chakra, as if he were walking up a tree, and lowered his defensive stance. With no time for anything fancier, he prepared to catch Chouichi.

With a boom that traveled through the forest area and a cloud of dirt that rose into the air, Chouichi finally hit ground. Despite being anchored to the ground, Jiraiya was slammed backwards, with the ground underneath him. He slammed into the tree behind him and heard the slow sound of a tree cracking and splitting as it was now unable to support itself.

He heard Shinobu scream.

Jiraiya looked back while pushing Chouichi back. The rope was swinging wildly now, back and forth like a pendulum, moving her over land and over water, repeatedly. Worse because the tree was leaning closer and closer to ground, eventually she was going to hit one of them.

"Shinobu! The water is softer to hit than the ground, get ready to swim!"

"No! Wait!"

Jiraiya couldn't. He swiftly pulled a kunai from his holster and threw it with perfect, calculated aim. By time it reached her, it cut right through the rope around her ankles. Not only letting her fall, but also freeing her feet so she could swim.

He turned his attention on Chouichi, not even watching her as she splashed in the water, trusting that she could swim out of the river.

Chouichi popped his head and limbs outside of the round shape. Instead of reducing to his normal size, the round shape form changed back into his normal shape, only now he was as tall as Jiraiya and much wider.

_The Multi-Size Technique not only allows them to grow into a round shape, but also let's them grow, but still retain their natural shape. However, this form can't be used for the Human Bullet Tank. What does he intend to do now?_

The boy moved his feet in a wide stance with his knees bent. There wasn't much room between Jiraiya and Chouichi or Jiraiya and the remains of the tree behind him. When Chouichi suddenly extended both arms with his palms open, striking Jiraiya in the middle of the chest, it sent the older ninja flying into the tree, finally breaking and sending its remains into the river.

"Damn," he said as he got up and brushed off the dirt on him.

_Impressive, using his strength, momentum, and a combination of moves he can become a dangerous opponent while in that larger form. I can do hundred different things in this situation if this were real combat. This is just a test and despite his new size, he's still just a ten year old. I could end up seriously hurting him, however, this test is more to see their abilities than mine. He's still young, he'll run out of chakra and stamina fast in that form, but lets see what he can do. _

He formed a defensive stance, but looked back noticing he was closer to the edge of the river than ever. He noticed the old tree with the beehive had finally fallen into the river now, its trunk floating on top, he was glad that he had cut Shinobu loose when he had, or else she may have drowned while tied to the rope.

_buzz_

Jiraiya turned quickly, a little nervous about that sound after his recent ordeal, but it was only bees desperate to escape their hive as it sank into the water. He sighed in relief that they weren't interested in him.

An awful shriek filled the air, hurting his ears. He turned around in concern, ignoring Chouichi. He hoped to have seen Shinobu pulling herself out of the river by now, but he saw nothing, but the beehive slowly sinking.

_The beehive…hive…Shinobu!_

His stomach felt like it dropped as he realized in horror what he had done. He had essentially thrown a hive of destruction bugs into the river, to be completely engulfed by water. Like the beehive, he imagined the bugs desperate to escape, fighting their way out, but worse because their hive was a human being made of flesh and blood and the destruction bugs weren't ordinary bugs.

For the second time in the day, he feared he had accidentally killed one of his students.

* * *

**Next Chapter: Think Beyond the Normal**

_A/N: In this story, especially this chapter, I've tried to keep in mind what techniques and abilities Jiraiya, Chouji, and Shino have ever used and when compared to the techniques and abilities of Team 7 during their bell test. As new Genin, Team 7 all had the techniques taught to them at the academy, but little else. Naruto had his forbidden technique and Sasuke had his fire technique (but it was also a C-rank technique that Kakashi said he shouldn't have been able to do…which goes along with Sasuke's genius status). Since we didn't see Chouji and Shino abilities until during Chuunin exam after months of training, I assumed most of their skills were a bit advanced for a new Genin. However, by making Chouichi the genius, I gave him Human Bullet Tank, which is also a C-Rank technique. _

_We have seen variations of the basic abilities of the Aburame and the Akimichi, which leads to some questions about the differences, but I've taken some artistic license and gone in certain directions. The Multi Size Technique can inflate an Akimichi into a round shape (Chouji) and it can make them grow while retaining their human shape (Chouza). I've seen Chouza's version being called Super Multi Size, but I assume the super is more for the fact he was taller than a building. I decided there is no reason why the normal Multi Size couldn't allow him to grow taller a little bit while keeping his shape instead of transforming into a ball. As for the Aburame, the destruction bugs can fly, but prefer to march toward their victims._

_We have also seen variations of techniques. Kakashi and Team 7 seem to prefer using logs in their Body Replacements, but both Sandaime and Orochimaru have used mud. Their replacements for near copies of them before quickly losing its form into a mud puddle and even Sandaime used it when no mud was near him. Figuring it was a teacher-student thing, I had Jiraiya using mud too, which also helped hide the second snare in the story. _

_Also, I was inspired by the fate of the beehive guy from Ninja Scroll. I wondered what would happen to an Aburame if they were submerged in water, but don't worry. Someone will rescue Shinobu in the next chapter._

* * *

Version 1.1 

1.0: Original

1.1: Corrected the Author Note's about Sasuke's technique.


	4. Unnecessary Motions

**Name in the Whirlpool**

A/N: Not so much action this chapter, I've tried for some dramatic dialogue.

Thanks for the reviews I've gotten so far. If you haven't reviewed and like this story then please review. The story is almost finished. I would like to do a few timeskips (Chuunin exam or the current Naruto setting) but only if the characters were popular enough to continue. I have my ongoing story and a lot more ideas, but I like these characters too and would like to keep writing them.

* * *

**Chapter 04 – Unnecessary Motions**

_A ninja needs to think beyond the normal. _

Kayaku watched Jiraiya fall into Shinobu's trap after he managed to pull himself out of the ground, leaving his clothes stained with dirt. He walked slowly toward the others, not really hiding, but keeping out of the way. He realized that his new teacher could tie him to the log anytime he wanted, so what was the point of it all?

He clutched the kunai that had earlier fallen very close to his head, yet careful not to crush the bugs that were still holding onto it. He had the youthful fascination with bugs that many boys his age had, and therefore the bug-covered kunai was curious item. He hadn't seen bugs like these before.

However, Jiraiya's situation drew away his attention.

An unexpected feeling of satisfaction and jealously filled him as the snare pulled Jiraiya into the air. However, by the time Jiraiya used the replacement to escape and quickly recreated Shinobu's snare, he realized one thing. Jiraiya could not be defeated, not as they were. Their teacher was merely playing with them, he had a hundred different ways to counterattack or dodge each of their attacks, but only responded by the most basic move.

The only challenge for Jiraiya was choosing the correct move to avoid hurting his new students.

While watching them from the distance, he noticed movement in the trees nearby them. It was Chouichi. The large boy was climbing up a tall tree the old fashion way, without attaching himself through chakra. The others hadn't noticed him. It was slow progress, but the other boy expected big results as he finally reached as far as he could climb and jumped off.

While in midair the boy quickly inflated into a huge round shape and started to roll. He smashed through tree branches like they were nothing, letting gravity turn his huge sphere shape into a natural cannonball. Kayaku realized that Chouichi had actually carefully aimed himself toward Jiraiya as he stood by the old tree where Shinobu dangled upside down from a rope.

It was a secret technique, a unique technique passed through generations of a clan.

Kayaku's eyes narrowed as he realized what it was. The memory of being alone while classmates were off learning from family members still burned. Even those who weren't part of a clan, still had at least one ninja family member who was willing to teach them some unique technique or skill they had picked up somewhere in their career.

He had no lack of friends and his friends' mothers would give him something to take home to eat and their fathers would tell him what a good kid he was, but none of them would ever teach him anything.

The teachers took pity on him, he begged them to teach something unique to him, but they always sidestepped the topic by saying it would be too difficult for him. Instead, they told him to practice his basics like throwing his kunai and shuriken and they even taught him advance chakra exercises like walking up a tree and concentrating his chakra into a leaf placed on his forehead. One exercise taught him to bring out the correct amount of chakra in the proper area and the other taught him to draw on his maximum power to a specific point. They told him he could theoretically master any techniques, therefore he practiced until he had mastered both exercises.

However, as he watched Chouichi, now a round sphere smashing down on their new teacher with an unbelievable huge force that sent dirt into the air, doing far more damage to Jiraiya than he had done. He felt as if he would have easily traded his skills for a secret technique.

Shinobu's scream drew his attention away from Jiraiya and Chouichi. The pair slamming into the tree had sent it slowly leaning more toward the river. Shinobu was swinging on the end of the rope, getting closer to crash into the ground or river.

Then he heard Jiraiya yell something and saw him throw a kunai. Kayaku watched in awe as the kunai caught the robe when it had swung the furthest away from the ground and closest to the river. The skill of the throw was incredible, to have hit at that moment and only hit the rope and not Shinobu herself. However, Jiraiya had clearly turned his attention back to Chouichi, but Kayaku watched when Shinobu hit the water.

Kayaku jogged over to the edge of the river, ignoring Jiraiya and Chouichi's fight. He looked around in concern, told himself nothing was wrong and Shinobu would call him idiot again as she pulled herself out of the water, but she didn't appear.

Shinobu's head finally broke over the water, but she released an awful shriek that sent shivers down his spine. It wasn't the desperate gasp of someone drowning. Something was horribly wrong.

Without hesitation, Kayaku dropped the bug-covered kunai to the ground and jumped into the water. He swam the rest of the way as fast as he could before he finally reached her. He moved an arm around her, but she flung her arms at him and kicked him in blind desperation. Her nails scratched his skin as she screeched into his ears.

"Ow, stop it. I'm trying to help!"

Kayaku swam, somehow pulling the panicking Shinobu with him.

When they got out of the river, Shinobu landed on her knees, covering her face with her hands. Kayaku looked at her bare arms, it occurred to him that he had never seen her outside of her oversized purple coat. He noticed curiously that several little dark spots covered her arms in random places.

"You can't swim or something?" he asked in a friendly tone, trying to get her to talk.

"Don't look at me," she whimpered.

"W-What?" He had trouble hearing her whisper past a growing buzzing sound.

"Don't look!" she screamed, but it was too late.

The dark spots on her arms seemed to multiply and move at first, but he looked closer and realized the original spots were holes and the movement was from a stream of little bugs crawling out in massive numbers, making her pale skin twist and distort from the movement underneath.

The bugs didn't move far, they merely swarmed around her, crawling around her wet skin and clothes, buzzing in irritation.

"Stop looking!" she screamed, locking tear filled eyes on him. The emotions of humiliation and panic were clear on her normally stoic face.

Secret Techniques again, but this time he didn't feel like he wanted them. The look in her eyes told him Shinobu didn't want them either.

Kayaku couldn't look away.

She locked an angry gaze on his expression of pity. He suddenly frowned as he noticed two spots form underneath her right eye, one underneath the other along her cheek. At first, he assumed they were tears, but they became dark like blood.

Shinobu whimpered in pain as she brought a hand quickly over her eye. She drew her hand away and looked at blood that covered her fingers. She returned her fingers to her cheek, Kayaku could see the spots really weren't spots as she gently fingered two new holes, carefully avoiding a new stream of bugs quickly exiting on her face, each covered in red.

"No," she whimpered. "Don't you have enough exits!"

_They were trying to escape the water, desperately fighting their way out, _he thought.

Kayaku watched the stream of bugs moving out from her cheek. He realized those holes must have been new compared to the others, and from her reaction, rather permanent. He felt pity for her and a feeling that bordered on disgust, bugs fascinated him, but that didn't mean he wanted them living inside him. However, he willed that feeling away, he didn't want to feel that way about his friend.

"S-Shinobu, it's okay," he tried. He didn't want her to feel embarrassed about his presence. He didn't want her to think that he felt disgusted about her.

"Shut up," she whispered harshly.

"No really!" He turned, ran over to the kunai he had dropped before plunging into the river, and picked it up. He tried to hand her the bug covered kunai in a gesture that showed he was neither afraid of what she was or disgusted. "I found this. This is yours right?"

The bugs on the kunai finally moved, flying off the kunai to join the rest of the swarm around her, they were now one more dark spot among a thousand others.

"I hate you…I hate you…"

"Shinobu, it's okay," he tried, thinking she was talking to the bugs.

"I hate you!" she yelled at him. He recoiled back in shock. Her eyes burned with anger, looking right at him. "You are always complaining about not belonging to a clan. Yet your totally ignorant of the freedom you have!"

"W-What?"

"If you're a member of a clan then you don't have any choice but to be part of its secrets! They don't allow it! It was done to them so they'll do it you, but you don't have anyone to force anything on you and yet all you do is complain!"

Rage and humiliation fuelled her words. She never wanted to be seen like this by anyone, much less by Kayaku. All she wanted to be was a normal girl, yet that dream was already broken when she was only a baby. She just wanted to keep her broken dream.

"I've had them inside of me before I can remember. I couldn't even give consent to his! All they do is make tunnels and exits that hurt! I hate them and I hate my father for doing this to me!" She reached up and touched her cheek again. Her voice was softer now, as her anger wilted away, "And now I'll have to wear that coat all the time, hide my face with the collar, just like father said. I defied him, rolled the collar down, thinking I do that forever, but he was right."

"Right about what?" said Kayaku, his tone defiant. "Being an orphan, I don't have any such experience of having a father being right." His tone changed to more inner-amusement at his own speech. He laughed, "I'm told parents know what is good for you, but without them I can only choose what is good for myself."

Kayaku sat right next to her, the same distance he had earlier in the day when Jiraiya introduced himself, he wasn't afraid of the nearby buzzing bugs. He pointed himself in a direction so he could watch Jiraiya and Chouichi, who were still fighting, and ignored any feeling of jealousy that the other boy had lasted so long.

"Earlier, you said you wanted to be the best ninja of the Aburame. Was that true?"

"I don't know," she whispered in a broken tone.

"I know what Chouichi said is true. He wants to show the true skills of the Akimichi. Do you know why?"

Her silence told him no.

"People view the Akimichi as fat and lazy and that their secret techniques are not as impressive as the rest of Konoha's clans. They are one of the noble clans, but people don't see them the same as the Hyuuga or Uchiha. Chouichi wants to show that an Akimichi using Akimichi secret techniques can still be a greater ninja that a Hyuuga or Uchiha. Because they have advance bloodlines it's likely he can't be greater than all of them, but he wants to show that even an Akimichi has a irreplaceable value within Konoha."

"What does an Akimichi have to do with me!" she snapped.

"Because Chouichi is being defiant toward others expectations," he yelled back. "You were being defiant as well weren't you? By not hiding your face underneath your coat's collar."

"But I didn't have holes in my face before! I knew when I did it would be over, that I would have to hide my face. These holes don't disappear, the bugs don't waste their energy by making holes and tunnels that could disappear after they use it, like the Aburame, they don't make unnecessary motions."

"An unnecessary motion?"

"The Aburame is also one of the noble clans of Konoha, but we hide who we are and are distant to everyone, even ourselves. Father says we hide for the element of surprise, to trap our enemy during a battle, but I know that's not completely true. Two years ago someone I thought was my friend was told by her parents what the Aburame are and she started calling me Bug Girl. My friend was disgusted by me, imagine if everyone in the class knew!"

Kayaku was silent for a moment, but when he spoke, his voice was more cool and confident than she ever remembered hearing it. "That person was a fool. We go to the Academy to become ninja. Every ninja needs a special advantage, relying on unique abilities and techniques. These are passed on to their family as secret techniques and advance bloodlines, insuring their family also has an advantage. Advantages are required to be successful and sometimes to survive." His last words were suddenly cold, "If you're ordinary, you die. I don't intend to be ordinary."

His last words chilled Shinobu to the core, she wondered where they had come from. She knew little about his orphan status or who his parents were, but she wondered if that anything to do with those words.

"Shinobu, you want to know my dream?" he asked with a cheerful fox-like smile, in contrast to the cold words he spoke a second ago. "My dream is to have a clan of my own. A name of my own, not just Kayaku, a clan name. Clans are filled with people who care about each other and not bad people who do things to each other that are wrong."

"You want to make your own clan. Idiot, an amazing person with amazing skills creates a clan. You aren't any of those!"

* * *

_Damn_, Jiraiya looked back toward Shinobu and Kayaku, her yelling at the blond boy was enough to distract him, but he was also worried. _I made a mistake by cutting the rope. I didn't think how the bugs inside he would handle being insider her while being submerged in water. _

Despite his guilt, he had a certain amount of pride in Kayaku. The boy hadn't even hesitated to save his teammate and had reacted faster than he could have. The blond boy's actions had raised Jiraiya's opinion back up once again.

Jiraiya had his own challenge, trying to find off Chouichi without hurting him or himself for that matter.

By using strength, momentum, and a combination of moves, Chouichi was slowly forcing him backwards toward the river. The boy remained in Multi-Size mode, longer than Jiraiya would have thought for a kid.

In truth, Jiraiya could have done one of a hundred different things to get out of this situation, but most likely injuring Chouichi as a result. Due to the boy's current size and strength, just threatening him with a kunai had little effect. For now the boy seemed intent in pushing him back toward the river and he was more than willing to test the boy's skills instead of his own.

Jiraiya could feel the river's edge on his sandaled feet. He had no doubt that the boy intended to push him into the water, perhaps making him fall, and give Chouichi a chance to get one of the bells.

"Alright, I've had enough of this," he said in an amusing tone. "Why don't you rest while I check on your teammates."

Chouichi didn't pay his words any attention as he moved forward, intending to push Jiraiya with the full force of his arms again.

Jiraiya jumped backward before Chouichi's open palms hit and landed in the middle of the river, except he didn't sink at all. Chouichi's eyes actually opened wide as he saw his teacher standing on the surface of the water.

"Ha Ha!" laughed Jiraiya. "You weren't expecting that were you."

Jiraiya started walking down the river toward the others as if it were mere casual walk. The other boy reverted to his normal size, too weak to do anything more, and slowly followed his teacher along the side of the river.

* * *

Shinobu and Kayaku's argument had quickly ended as they saw Jiraiya jump toward the river. They fully expected him to fall in, but when he didn't they looked in shock.

"That is so cool!" yelled Kayaku, his cold tone quickly vanished.

For once, Shinobu couldn't manage to call him an "idiot", mostly because she agreed.

They weren't hadn't moved much from where they collapsed after getting out of the river earlier, so Jiraiya merely walked on the river toward them and walked right off onto solid ground right next to them and knelt down next to Shinobu.

"Are you hurt?" he asked. His face looked stern, but his eyes showed his concern. Neither one showed the disgust or fear that Shinobu feared seeing. Her bugs were beginning to crawl back inside her, but she was painfully aware the few that dotted her pale skin.

"N-," she winced as she tried to speak, her hand flew up to caress the new holes on her cheek. The adrenaline from the situation was wearing off and she was more aware of the pain in her cheek. "No, I'm fine."

"Forgive me for sending you into the river," he smiled gently. He looked around, noticing the blood on Shinobu's cheek, Chouichi's growling stomach, and Kayaku's dirt covered clothes. "This has been a rough first test, but you've all made proud at your performance so far. I think I'm beginning to like you," he looked at Kayaku's wide smile and then remembered the pain behind him. "Except for you!"

"Ah!"

"In return, when this test is over I'll treat you to a meal, I'm sure you're all hungry by now."

Kayaku scratched his head with an uncertain expression. "The test isn't over yet?"

"Of course it's not! Idiot!" he yelled. "The test isn't over until you have bell or your tied to a log and whoever gets tied to the log stays there while the rest eat! You all have one more chance to win! Get ready to hide again—"

"Wait!" Kayaku scrambled back to his feet. "Sensei, before you start can you tell us how you walked on water!"

Jiraiya eyed him carefully. _He's practically mastered tree climbing. It would be only natural that he would be curious about water walking. _

"Water walking is a more advance chakra exercise than tree climbing. As brand new genin none of you should have the skill for it yet."

"But!"

Jiraiya sighed, but the boy was clearly listening to his every word. He turned and stepped back on to the river to give a demonstration.

"The release of chakra must match the weight of the body and the amount necessary to float. It is more difficult to control your chakra since water is not solid and constantly moving. This training is to teach an individual how to create a specific amount of chakra and expel it for a technique."

Kayaku watched him carefully before walking over to the river and focusing his chakra to his feet.

Jiraiya didn't say anything, but smile. _With his skill, he'll be able to stand a second at most before falling right in. Oh well, he's already wet._

The boy's face twisted with concentration as he took a few experimental steps onto the river with a single foot. To everyone's surprise, he walked right into the middle and didn't fall.

_To figure out water walking after just hearing how it works just one, maybe he is my genius!_

He faced Shinobu and glared. "I'll prove I'm an amazing person with amazing abilities!" He turned his head toward Jiraiya. "I will get…" He stared wobbling. "a…" He started waving his arms in the air and his face twisted in panic. "bell!" Kayaku fell right into the water with a giant splash.

_Then again, maybe not._

* * *

**Next Chapter – The Most Important Thing**

_A/N: I hope during the Kayaku and Shinobu scene I didn't loose the emotion I was going for. I thought it was believable for a ten year old girl to be insecure about having bugs living inside her, those insecurities being hidden by the cool and collected nature of the Aburame. Shinobu is defiant to the Aburame way by not hiding her face by the collar, although until now she didn't have holes on her face. Next chapter will show what she decides to do in the future. _

_I've decided to go with a more realistic route with the holes. An Aburame is just a hive made of flesh, bone, and blood at the mercy of the bugs. I thought it was more traumatic for the character if the bugs are creating the holes and they are permanent. However, it made sense to me that the bugs could hide the holes, which would explain Shino. Perhaps like some bugs in real nature, they hide the exits to their home for security, but this requires control over the bugs that Shinobu doesn't have yet (but I will explore in the next chapter). _

_I hope Kayaku figuring out water walking wasn't too unbelievable. I figured Naruto learned it in day and he has bad chakra control and at the time, he had Orochimaru's Five Elements seal slowing him down. The Fourth was described as being brilliant with techniques and must have had good Chakra control to create the Rasengan. If it was, just remember, he fell in the water anyway. _

* * *

Version 1.0 

1.0: Original


	5. The Most Important Thing Part I

**Name in the Whirlpool**

A/N: Thank you for all of the reviews! Wow, I got a lot of them this time. I really liked hearing how well everyone liked this story and the characters.

No action this time, instead I realized that after every big speech or action from Naruto we see an emotional flashback of the other person's childhood. After Kayaku's speech to Shinobu, it is appropriate to show a little of Shinobu's childhood. Yet not knowing much about the Aburame, I've created my own realistic version of their background.

* * *

**Chapter 05 – The Most Important Thing Part I**

_Looks like your talents are exceptional. _

Kayaku smiled the memory from a moment ago, before all they all separated again. His teacher had praised him, a stark contrast to the number of bad things he called him earlier on. He hadn't been able to stay on the water for long, less than a few seconds really, but it had impressed his teacher.

Unfortunately, the reality of his claim, that he would get a bell, was sinking in. He wanted to prove to Shinobu that he could. That he was special, that if an orphan boy could be defiant to expectations of others, then surely she as a member of a noble clan could as well.

However, he was realizing saying it is different than doing it, but he hoped that he could, especially after _that_ moment. After falling in the water, Shinobu actually offered a hand to pull him out. The memory of the touch of her cool, soft hand also made him smile, he thought perhaps he had made a friend despite the situation.

Yet, it was short lived as they spread out again, but this time he felt as if their second chance was a useless gesture. After her ordeal in the water he didn't think Shinobu would be up to fighting and Chouichi had remained used his secret technique for an extended period. He would no doubt be tired by now. By Kayaku's estimates, they would be tied to the logs too and that made him feel sad. They were on the same team and therefore teammates. Shouldn't he care about what happened to them?

The entire test was confusing. He guessed that there was no way to really beat Jiraiya, and merely trying to trick him into getting a bell hadn't worked for them either. At this rate, they would only win if he let them and that left a bad feeling in Kayaku. After all their hard work, at the top of their current abilities, to just be allowed to win didn't seem fair.

His feet itched to be on the water again. He wanted to master it, just like how he ran up the trees over and over until he got it. He didn't want to be hiding under some bushes again, but practicing on the water now would just place him out in the wide open.

Instead, he plucked a small green leaf by the tree was hiding against and placed it in the palm of his hand. He concentrated his chakra to that specific point and a blue glow surrounded the tiny leaf. The exercise was meant to use his maximum amount of chakra, but he lowered it, carefully controlling, remembering that maximum amounts on his feet made him fall in the water. The added bonus was it calmed him down, likely the reason the Academy teachers taught it to him, besides for giving him something to do.

He calmed his mind and defined his target. At first, he pictured Jiraiya, but then corrected himself. The target was the bells, Jiraiya was just an obstacle in getting them, which wasn't much different from his previous thought.

There had to be away of getting them. If only he could think of how…

* * *

_Do you think being a ninja is easy?_

Shinobu moved the hair of her bangs away from her eyes and gently caressed her cheek until she could feel the two holes bored into her skin. It still hurt and perhaps always would, making her realized why everyone in the clan spoke as little as possible as any movement of the jaw was painful. The children copied the cool attitudes of their parents, but now she knew the truth.

"I don't want it to be easy, but it shouldn't be this hard."

She removed her hand from her face and flung a closed fist into the air, in an unexpected bit of anger, but winced in pain as she carelessly hit the bush she hid beside, small thorns tore into her skin, leaving bloody flaps of skin even as she tried to pull away.

"Ow!" Shinobu quickly cradled her hand against her chest, gritting her teeth in pain and at her anger at herself. The bugs put enough holes in her body without her doing something so stupid to puncture herself.

The telltale itch across her skin alerted her to impending exit of a few bugs. She watched her bloody hand as she felt the bugs traveling under her skin and out of a hole on her hand. Her coat sleeves normally hid the hole, but the coat itself lost on the other side of the forest after she used it for a decoy. She was already missing it, after wearing it for so long she felt naked without it. Worse, was the impending disappointment from her father if he found out she lost her coat.

Her father was a distant individual, like all Aburame, but she had no doubts about his love for her. He was merely like all the other individuals born into the Aburame clan. They were a close-knit group, with the cooperation and synergy that rivaled an ant colony and yet just as silent. Yet, just like an ant colony there was a certain harmony, which even she enjoyed.

Once after a storm that damaged several buildings and homes in the Aburame district she watched several Aburame work together to repair them, each very quiet, but working together in ways one wouldn't expect from people who were so distant from each other.

She was reminded of that memory as the bugs that left the exit crawled over to one of the scratches. Despite the tingle of pain, she let them do their work as they weaved the flesh back together. As they moved off to the next scratch, she looked the remains of the first scratch with fascination. The bugs had sealed the scratch with hardly any visible marks to show its presence other than the remaining drying blood. Not quite the same as medical techniques, but it worked.

It made sense to her, the bugs were able to create tunnels and exits in her without her bleeding to death. Many bugs tend to use certain materials to build a nest like mud, wood, or wax. In her case, it was her own flesh. She wasn't sure if she were grateful or not.

Once upon a time, she wasn't like this. An individual doesn't born into the Aburame without knowing their nature as they grew up, but they were blissfully ignorant of the differences between themselves and everyone else outside the clan.

In another memory, already fading back into one of many forgotten childhood memories, she remembered a time years ago:

* * *

_She was a little girl dress in a purple yukata with dark flower designs. She cradled on her arms with the other, blood was slowly dripping down her arm from where she scratched her elbow badly. In the hand of the injured arm, she held a broken pinwheel, the golden vanes rotated slowly through the soft wind. _

_It was nighttime in Konoha and a crowd of individuals flowed through the streets to enjoy the festival. There were paper lanterns suspended in the air, booths to the side of each street, and few curious fireflies flying about. The festival was far from the familiar streets of the Aburame district, which the girl rarely left, so she was completely lost and alone. _

_The crowd around her was oblivious to her tiny presence, the combined noise around them prevented many from hearing her cries, although she desperately wished for her parents or older brother to find her. _

_Her cries grew softer as she noticed the growing number of fireflies in the air and as sudden as they appeared, an old woman wearing a dark blue yukata was by her side. _

_The old woman was hunched over and leaning on a cane. Gossamer wisps of white hair glowed under the lantern light and eerie green light of the fireflies that followed her. Her wrinkled skin made her look positively ancient, yet the girl had a wide smile as she recognized the old woman. She was an elder of the Aburame clan and as such, the girl felt saved. _

_A reassuring hand caressed her cheek and wiped away a tear. The fingers were gnarled by old age and she leaned heavily on her cane. _

_The Aburame elder didn't wear sunglasses or an oversized coat like everyone else born into the clan. Yet, her eyelids were partially closed, under heavy wrinkles, and the girl couldn't see the old woman's eyes. The old woman had what appeared to be many dark liver spots, obscured by the night and her wrinkles, but the girl could see them on every piece of exposed skin. _

_"What happened?" the old woman asked, her voice cool and collected, but with a hint of grandmotherly concern. _

_"I fell," she sniffed. She held out the broken pinwheel for an example, the thin wooden stick was snapped partially in two and bent, but the golden vanes were undamaged and slowly turning in the light wind. The elder looked at her oddly, amused by the child's confusion of priorities. The girl was more upset by a broken toy than her bleeding arm. _

_"That's alright," he spoke. "It can be repaired, but we have to take care of your arm first. Hold still…"_

_The old woman took the girl's arm gently in hands and inspected the injury. The girl shivered as a surge of chakra flowed from the old woman's fingers and into the arm. Something started buzzing inside of her in response. It was a familiar feeling that came and went sometimes, something her father told her not to worry about. _

_"They're almost there," the old woman muttered to herself. "Perhaps I'll give them a boost."_

_Destruction bugs started marching out from underneath the old woman's sleeve and onto the girl's arm as the girl watched with innocent fascination. _

_"It tickles," she laughed. By now, she was no longer crying and comforted by old woman's presence. The girl was a member of the Aburame, thus destruction bugs were nothing to be afraid of, and she had grown up around them so they were normal to her. _

"_Be careful not to squash them," she warned softly. _

_"What are they doing?"_

_The woman spoke in an instructive tone, but clear enough for the girl to understand. "They are stopping the bleeding, then weaving the bits and pieces of flesh back together to close the cut and not to leave a scar. A pretty girl like you shouldn't have scars."_

_The girl smiled at the praise and looked at her arm. It was now smooth and unblemished as if she hadn't fallen at all, but still covered with several of the bugs. "I didn't know they could do that."_

_"Of course, the bugs work together to do big things even though they are so small." _

_The old woman's gripped the arm tighter, but the flurry of fireflies did an aerial dance in front of the girl, distracting her from her arm. _

_"Ow!" she winced, but the old woman tugged her sleeve down over her arm before she could see. _

_"There finished," the old woman told her kindly. _

_The fireflies remained, one of them landed on the pinwheel and caught the girl's attention as the vanes slowly turned. She watched the green glow with curiosity. _

_"Why are there so many fireflies?"_

_"They are my friends," answered the old woman. "When I was young I used to dance among them in the moonlight." _

_The girl played with the fireflies, slipping the pinwheel between her belt so she could use both hands to capture a bug, letting her watch the green glow from the darkness created between her hands. _

_"One life is beginning as another is ending, like the life of a bug," the old woman remarked wearily and gave the girl a warm smile. "May the Aburame clan always have a kunoichi who is as skilled as she is beautiful."_

_The girl was so entranced by the fireflies that she hadn't noticed that the destruction bugs hadn't returned to the old woman. _

* * *

Kayaku frowned at not reaching an answer and opened his eyes as he broke his concentration. Nothing he came up with worked. Jiraiya could outthink every trap, block every attack, the only thing Kayaku had was speed, but even that wouldn't work if Jiraiya's attention were on him. The big man could still block him before he his hands got anywhere near those bells. 

"Are you asleep?"

He jerked at the unexpected sound, but the voice was soft, feminine, and irritated, thus definitely not his teacher sneaking up on him. To his surprise, there was Shinobu, still sans her coat, standing next to where he sat.

"Shinobu! How'd you find me!" he yelled in a rough whisper that was still loud due to his excitement.

"Quiet!" she snapped. Shinobu moved a hand closer to him quickly and he flinched thinking that she was going to hit him. Instead, her fingers raked through his still damp hair. He cringed at first, but it felt pleasant yet he couldn't fathom why she was doing it until she pulled back with a small black bug on the edge of a finger.

He looked at it curiously and realized it was the same type of bug that he saw fly out of Shinobu earlier.

"This is a female bug," she explained. "She emits a scent that only the male bugs can follow. It allowed me to track you down through them."

"Why was it in my hair?" he asked innocently, oblivious that Shinobu herself had placed it on him earlier when she helped him out of the water.

"I-I," she started. "I don't know," she lied.

She really didn't want to say why she went looking for him and she wasn't even sure why she had left the bug on him in the first place, instead she sat beside him, closer than she would have liked without her coat.

Shinobu turned and saw him looking at her arms, at the pale skin dotted with several holes. There were no bugs coming out of them now, but the holes were obvious this close, more than just dark spots. "Stop looking!"

"Sorry!" he flinched.

She watched his expression carefully, deciding he was just curious and there was nothing disgusted or hateful in his eyes. It bothered a little that he didn't act they way she thought he would, but Kayaku was definitely odd.

"What were you doing?" she managed to ask, trying to change her train of thought.

"This?" he asked as he raised his open palm with the leaf on it. "It's the leaf concentration exercise. The Academy teachers taught it to me, they say it's ancient chakra training."

"What's it good for?"

"By calming your mind and defining your target you can call up your maximum chakra at a specific point of your body." He plucked a fresh leaf from the tree and moved it closer to her hand. "Here, try."

Shinobu let him place the leaf in her palm. "This is silly," she told herself.

"Now focus your chakra on the leaf. Sometimes it helps if you close your eyes and only concentrate on the leaf."

She followed his instructions, which weren't hard, concentrating on a specific point was a basic of communicating with the destruction bugs with her chakra.

* * *

_They sat under the lantern light on the edge of the festival. The old woman used her authority as an elder to send a young Aburame out looking for the girl's family. _

_"Why don't you wear sunglasses?" asked the curious girl. _

_"Because I'm too old for such nonsense," said the old woman sternly. "I am what I am. I'm too old to have enemies to hide my abilities from, besides, its all unnecessary motions to me anymore. Even hiding these," said the old woman as she caressed her own cheek with their fingers. Underneath brighter lantern lights, the girl could see that it wasn't liver spots on the woman's skin, but numerous holes, exits for the destruction bugs. _

_It wasn't an unfamiliar sight, she seen her father use his bugs before, the holes on his cheek would close up and disappear when not in use. Back then her young mind assumed they just appeared, but now looking at the old woman she started to understand they were a bit more permanent. The old woman was riddled with holes, the result of a long life as an Aburame. _

_Despite her new discomfort, the little girl still enjoyed the old woman's outgoing nature. Her father and older brother were so distant, to her, to her mother, and to each other. They hid what they were even from each other, using sunglasses to emulate the emotionless eyes of the dark bugs they carried. The old woman's warm personality outweighed any fear the girl had about her holes, it reminded her so much of her mother's personality, a beautiful woman who married into the clan and didn't have bugs like the rest of the family. _

_"Shinobu!" yelled a woman wearing a purple yukata of the same flower design as the girl's yukata. She rushed forward and quickly pulled the girl away from the old woman. _

_"Mom!" Under the glow the paper lanterns the flawless pale skin and beautiful features of her mother were a start contrast to the old woman's old skin riddled with holes. _

_Her mother hugged her tight while sending the old woman an accusing glare. _

_"How dare you!"_

_"She was lost in the festival, would you rather I left her?" said the old woman in her cool voice while folding her hands in her lap. _

_"I don't want you near Shinobu," the girl's mother argued. "Not after what you did!"_

_The woman looked the girl over, as if checking for injury, but her panicked eyes frightened the girl a little. _

_"What I did? I upheld Aburame traditions. You are the outsider who tried to defy our ways. You should have known better, this is the Aburame way."_

_"She healed my arm," said the girl proudly, hoping her mother would see the old woman as kind as she did, but she lifted her sleeve to show her and paused, "What?"_

_There were three holes in a line on her forearm. _

_"She's my daughter!" yelled her mother after see saw the holes. Tears were in her eyes now, " You didn't' have a right!"_

_"Yes I did, as elder of my clan," the old woman answered. "I suspect you've convinced your husband to give her more time, but the health of the nest must be insured. You have only done her a disservice by keeping so much from her, the bugs have already built a strong foundation. She will only be frightened later on because of you."_

_"Mom?" cried the girl, confused and frightened, perhaps more from the emotions being flung about the two women. The buzzing inside her grew, perhaps fed by her growing panic. _

_"But she's just a girl," her mother said weakly as her arms fell limply away from her embrace. _

_"She is Aburame, as I was. I was considered beautiful even after the days when I'd mastered my bugs and I was still able to bear healthy children that I loved. The bugs didn't change those parts of my human life. If you can't see past them then perhaps you married the wrong man!"_

_The girl could see the old woman's words hurt her mother terribly. "Just look at you now, your nothing more than a dried up old beehive. Filled with holes and tunnels all over, your bugs are the only things supporting you anymore. That's the fate you gave Shinobu!"_

_"Stop it! Stop it!" the girl screamed. Her emotions flew out of control as well as the buzzing inside of her. Destruction bugs that she didn't know she had flew out of the new holes in her arm and into a swarm that flew toward her mother. _

_In a flurry of movement her mother jerked away from her with a scream, her eyes looked at the girl with a mixture of fear and disgust, and a larger shape in a red coat moved between them a moment too late. The girl was just as afraid of the bugs as her mother, but conforted by the stoic presence of her father. He grabbed her wrist gently and with a surge of chakra, he ordered the swarm to return to their nest. _

_"Shibi, take care of your mother," her father said. The girl turned and saw her older brother walk toward their mother, the woman flinched from his touch, but her face twisted in shame. _

_He examined the girl's arm and turned to the old woman, his frown partially obscure from his coat. "You gave her some of your bugs?"_

_"I had to ensure her nest was strong. Several generations without a new strain of bugs will make the nest weaker, you know that. The Aburame have to remain strong. Besides, her own were close to breaking out anyway, mine are a bit better at digging through flesh. It was less painful and less frightening for her. You should be thanking me."_

_"Caretaking my child's nest is my responsibility," he said as he picked up his daughter and set her protectively in his arms. "If you interfere with my parental duties again, we'll have more than just words between us."_

_Her father left the old woman with his family following. The girl clutched at his coat and looked around for her mother. What she saw haunted her. _

_Her mother looked at her with a distant expression. _

* * *

Kayaku gasped and Shinobu opened her eyes to see her hand covered by destruction bugs that she hadn't even felt leave. Her stomach felt like it dropped as she realized once again she had exposed her true self to him. 

"Cool," the boy said as he leaned closer to get a better view of what the bugs were doing to the leaf. His eyes contained no fear or disgust. In fact, he was moving closer just to get a better look. "Instead of your chakra lifting up the leaf your bugs are."

"S-Sorry, I must have gotten confused," she said. She was mental berating herself for screwing up, but she couldn't help to be caught up in Kayaku's excitement. "I can communicate with them through chakra, tell them to do things, but they don't always listen."

"Maybe they can't hear," he said. "Just by concentrating chakra to your foot doesn't mean you'll stick to a tree, but by focusing your chakra to the maximum amount they not only heard but because you were concentrating on the leaf on your head that's where they went."

Shinobu listened to Kayaku's analytical explanation, it made sense, but it was too weird to hear him say anything smart, he acted too goofy and cheerful at times.

"They healed my hand earlier," she told him, not sure why she brought it up. She rubbed her hand while she spoke, "I cut it badly, but they stitched it back together. There isn't even a scar."

"Together?" the boy asked with a quizzical expression.

"Of course, idiot," she told him with a frown. She repeated the old woman's words from long ago, "The bugs work together to do big things even if they are so small."

"That's it!" he yelled. The big smile forming on his face frustrated her more. "That's how we can get the bells!"

* * *

**Next Chapter – The Most Important Thing Part II**

_A/N: I am fascinated by the Aburame even though I don't like bugs, the idea of them living in me is horrifying. I am curious about what their clan is really like and frustrated that we haven't seen some Jounin-level action yet. _

_In writing his chapter, I made a few assumptions. One is destruction bugs have the lifetime of an average bug. Thus, an Aburame will have generations of bugs living and dying inside him. Another was the Aburame only use one species of destruction bugs, but the bugs are like humans in that some are better at certain tasks than others. A single Aburame may have several different bloodlines, each good for a different task, running around him at all times. New abilities maybe gained when a new bug is introduced to the nest and creates several bugs with its traits every generation. However, an Aburame needs the skills to use the new abilities and bond with any new bugs, which would make it harder for them to put a super bug of every kind in a person at once. Since from what we've seen, Shino relies more on the abilities of his bugs mixed with ninjutsu then more advance techniques would require better bugs. My assumption is they wouldn't want to put an Olympic bug in a baby that couldn't handle it, instead they start with Average Joe bug that gets the ball rolling, getting the body adapted for more bugs. Then when they are ready they can start taking on Olympic bugs, all this explains what the old woman did._

_And for those who noticed, yes, I used the name Shibi (the name of Shino's father) for the name of Shinobu's brother, which makes her Shino's aunt. I decided to tie that in. Assuming the Fourth was 25 when he died, that makes Shibi a year older than Shinobu. The original InoShikaChou is 38 each, when they were introduced their kids about 13 each, so that would make them 25 at the time of the Fourth's death. That gives me some canon characters to be friends with Team Jiraiya for the second arc. _

* * *

Version 1.0 

1.0: Original


	6. The Most Important Thing Part II

**Name in the Whirlpool**

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews and your patience for this chapter, I had a chapter nearly written up and decided to trash it, it just didn't feel right to me. So back to the drawing board and the result is this chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 06 – The Most Important Thing Part II**

_It's true that ninjas need well-developed individual abilities, but it's teamwork that is much more important. _

Kayaku thought about his plan thoroughly. There wasn't much time, Jiraiya's attack could come at any time, but he was sure is plan would work. It took the best element from everyone's attack and used them together. The only problem was one thing was missing…Chouichi.

"Hurry up," he pleaded.

"Don't rush me!" snapped Shinobu. She sat across from him, her legs crossed, and her hands in a seal. "This isn't easy!"

He watched as he could feel Shinobu molding the chakra, no doubt communicating with the bugs inside of her. His eyes widened as he watched the skin of her arms bulge and ripple rapidly, then suddenly a black swarm of destruction bugs burst from the tiny holes. Even from the two new holes on her cheek, that was underneath her eye like dark teardrops.

It was different from last time, by the river. It was more controlled and the bugs weren't in a panic to escape, but still it was disturbing to see so many bugs suddenly exit from the girl.

"You're watching!" she accused him. Kayaku didn't say anything, just smiled sadly at her, neither hateful nor disgusted. It was a smile of a friend and as much as she hated it, it made it easier to do what she had to do. "I wish I had my coat!"

The swarm rose into the air, away from her and separated into several directions into many groups. Her shoulders sagged and she released the hand seal from exhaustion. Until the bugs exited all at once, she had no idea how much discomfort she had from her earlier ordeal in the river. The bug's earlier hasty escape bruised the tunnels made of her own flesh.

"They'll return if they find something or not and tell me what they found."

"Thank you, Shinobu," he told. He understood it was difficult for her.

She nodded her head while wrapping her arms around herself. "I feel so empty, there are only a few left. The ill, the damaged, the grubs, or those caretaking the next generation."

"Do you feel like a normal person now?"

"No, its too quiet and I feel hollow," she uncrossed her legs, folded them up to her chest, and wrapped her arms tighter around them. "There are so many tunnels and holes I can never be normal."

"Your arms don't look that bad," he tried, trying to make her feel better.

"They're not just on my arms," she turned her face away from him and said softly, "they're everywhere." Shinobu lifted her pant leg to show a set of holes on her leg.

He watched her carefully, unsure what to say that would make her feel better.

Shinobu spoke instead, "You said ninja's needed unique abilities to survive, and those abilities were passed on to their family and clan to ensure their survival. So what unique abilities do you have?"

Kayaku chuckled nervously as he scratched his chin, "I don't have one…not yet anyway, but I can already use chakra to climb trees and I think I have that water walking figured out!"

"Those aren't unique, you know."

"I know," he said defensively. "I'll figure something out, it'll be the best technique that only my clan can do."

"Clan? You don't even have a clan name, have you thought about that?" At the look at his blank face, she figured no. "You haven't, geez, you haven't even thought it through yet. Have you?"

"I will, I'll come up with name!" He was over defensive this time, a little embarrassed that he hadn't even thought about it. "I bet even the Aburame had someone that had to come up with a name and decide that bugs living inside them was a good thing."

"Good thing?" She looked at him in irritation. Kayaku wasn't in any position to say how good it felt to have bugs living inside of him.

"I didn't mean it like that. I meant they found something that gave them an advantage over others. They don't actually eat…"

"They live off of my chakra, in return I can control them and use them with my techniques," she told him as she rolled her eyes. "They can manipulate flesh to form tunnels and exits, but they don't actually eat it for food."

Kayaku nodded and thought about. He didn't have experience with something living inside of him and was trying to understand. "So the bugs live inside you and give something back to make up for it."

"Yeah."

A bug zipped through the small forest clearing and buzzed around Kayaku. He swatted at wildly, not really even close to hitting it, and he suddenly paused, realized in horror at what he might of done, but Shinobu started laughing. It was the first time he ever heard her laugh.

"It's not one of mine," she told him.

"Sorry, it was buzzing in my ear!"

"I always hear buzzing in my ears," she told him, but the smile was still on her lips.

The first swarm of destruction bugs returned, they both heard the soft buzz of their wings. Shinobu shivered, knowing her brief piece without her bugs was near over.

Kayaku held out his hand, much like a child letting a harmless bug like a ladybug or fireflies land on his hand out of curiosity. He focused his chakra, like during the leaf concentration exercise, but without the leaf, and watched the blue glow of chakra on his hand.

The tiny swarm changed directions from Shinobu over to Kayaku's hand. They landed on his hand and the blue glow began to flicker as they began to feed.

"Hey! That's dangerous, that's how they can attack! Besides, they live inside of _me_!"

"It's okay, they're not hurting me," he told her. He stopped the flow of his chakra and once it was gone, the little black bugs were content with just leaving and flying back to Shinobu.

"They aren't supposed to do that!" She was irritated at own lack of control over the bugs. "If they just feed on anyone using chakra around them, it would be trouble."

More destruction bugs came back and Shinobu was silent for a while as she adjusted to the nest being active again.

"Jiraiya-sensei is still by the river," she reported what the bugs told her. "He hasn't moved far, and Chouichi is in a forest clearing."

"Can you take us there?"

"Yeah," she looked up. "Kayaku, you know there are only two bells, but three of us. Why would Chouichi agree to help us? One person will still be tied to the log!"

"Because I don't believe that's true," he told her as he stood up. "There is no way we can get a bell from a Jounin individually. You have to be a super-genius to figure out how. Instead, I think the only way to win is to work together."

"What if your wrong?"

"Since its my idea, that makes me the leader, and as the leader I'll accept the punishment if I'm wrong. I'll make sure both you and Chouichi pass."

"You really are an idiot," she said softly with a friendly smile.

Kayaku removed his sweat jacket and straightened out the white T-shirt underneath. It was a plain shirt, without a symbol for his clan or family since he had none…yet.

"I guess I'm going to need a clan symbol too," he remarked. He held out his jacket. "I know you lost your coat, but if makes you feel better you can wear this."

She stood up and took it. As she pulled it over her head, she spoke with a curious voice, "How well do you know Chouichi?"

"We're friends…kind of."

"Kind of? How is that being friends?"

"Well I'm not best friends, but I do hang out with him with a group of boys during and after school. I have stayed his cousin's house before. His cousin's father tells me stories about being a ninja and his mother sends lots of food home with me, afraid I'll get too thin if I only eat instant foods like ramen."

Shinobu rolled her eyes at that while she straightened out the jacket and rolled the sleeves up, leaving enough room to expose a few holes on her arms if she needed them.

"His cousin is Akimichi Chouza, from our class? They're the same age."

"Right, but don't get them confused. They're both Akimichi, but their personalities are different. Chouichi's really smart for one thing and he can do techniques that most Akimichi don't master until their thirteen!"

She listened to him, but thought he had a naïve view on friendship, but for once choose not to point out his failing, "Come on, let's get Chouichi."

* * *

Butterflies danced around Chouichi, ignoring the indelicate rumbling of his stomach, as he pulled a bag of chips from his equipment pouch. For an Akimichi, the need to replenish their calories, which their techniques use a lot of, made food very much an important piece of equipment. 

He listened silently to the sounds of the forest: the birds chirping, the wind through the leaves of the trees, the river water against the rocks, and…the sound of the other boy yelling, his voice carried through the forest.

Chouichi smiled, the blond boy wasn't normally so loud, but his innate cheerfulness seemed to compound with his natural boyish energy, which sometimes got the better of him. With luck, the teacher heard that as well or was already fighting him. At least one person would end up tied to the log. If it already happened to someone else, the better chance of success he had at getting the bell.

He had to get the bell.

There was no doubt in his mind. He had to prove the Akimichi were as skilled ninja as the other noble clans by passing his first test from his new teacher, even is someone he called friend was punished for losing. All his life he had heard the jokes about the Akimichi weight and was never allowed to play ninja with the other kids. He was determined to show them that he was better ninja than they were.

Chouichi continued to eat his chips, deep in thought on how he could defeat his teacher.

A butterfly landed on his hand. He opened his hand and let the butterfly craw into his palm. The butterfly's beautiful autumn colored wings slowly flapped up and down as it rested on his hand. Chouichi opened his squinted eyes up for a moment to watch it.

His hand quickly closed into a fist, crushing the butterfly in his grip.

Just as quick, he opened his hands and wiped the butterfly's remains off on his pants. He was unaffected by the butterfly's death or his casual killing of it. Chouichi just reached into the bag and pulled out another chip.

His thoughts remained on how to get a bell and he decided to crush anything that got in his way.

* * *

Kayaku and Shinobu walked into the clearing, Chouichi watched them carefully, but looked back and forth, noticing Shinobu wearing the light blue sweat jacket. 

"Why are you wearing Kayaku's jacket?" he asked Shinobu.

"Because you knocked my coat into the river!" she snapped.

"You shouldn't have left it on the tree," he said as he popped another chip in his mouth and ate it.

"Come on you guys, lets not argue!" tried Kayaku, realizing his plan had already started wrong. If they were going to use teamwork, they couldn't be arguing like this.

"What do you want, the test isn't over yet is it?"

"No, in fact that's why we're here. I have a plan," said Kayaku as he moved toward Chouichi, looking at him with friendly eyes. "If we all attack Jiraiya-sensei we can get both bells."

"But there are only two bells!"

Shinobu moved forward, "That's what I said, but Kayaku has a good point, he thinks the only way to get the bells at all is to cooperate because Jiraiya-sensei is too skilled otherwise to win alone."

"Why not just attack together, but whoever gets the bells win. If we use cooperation, then someone could do all the work and they could still be tied to the log!"

"I'm sure it won't come to that," argued Kayaku. "In fact, if it does I'll volunteer to be tied up instead since its may plan."

The other boy shook his round face with uncertainty and argued, "Jiraiya-sensei doesn't have to tie you up if you have a bell, he never agreed to tie someone up that wanted to be tied up."

"Fine," said Kayaku in a friendly compromising tone, "We make a plan and make sure both you and Shinobu have a bell. If cooperation wasn't the right answer for this test, then I'll be tied up anyway! I promise!"

"Kayaku!" warned Shinobu, worried where he was putting himself.

"I'm good with that," smiled Chouichi as he stood up and wiped the crumbs away as he put the rest of the bag back in his pouch. "Kayaku, you understand I need to achieve my goal and passing this test is important to start that path."

"O-Of course," Kayaku scratched his head in confusion, a little unaccustomed to other boy's seriousness. "I know how important goals are."

Chouichi nodded in agreement. "Then what is your plan?"

"Okay now," Shinobu said, glad that Chouichi had agreed to work together. "Jiraiya-sensei is probably getting impatient by now, so we need a plan quick."

Kayaku spoke, happy that everything was going smooth now, "I watched both of you attack before, and I know what would have worked. If we combine each advantage we had and eliminate the individual disadvantages, then it could work."

Both of the boys were talking about the plan, but Shinobu saw something that caught her attention. Sticking out with autumn colors against the green grass, was a crushed butterfly.

Shinobu picked it up and examined it with a sad gaze. It was a beautiful thing, crushed to pieces. She turned her gaze on Chouichi and watched him carefully.

* * *

Jiraiya was bored. He could have spent this time doing research or something instead of waiting for his new students to decide to do something. 

"I should have brought a book," he muttered to himself.

He waited by the river, not far from where he told the kids they had a second chance. He begun to regret saying that and wished they would hurry up so he could tie all three of them up. Perhaps he would end his day by visiting a bathhouse or something.

He smiled at that thought.

Jiraiya snapped around, quickly pulling a kunai into his hand and blocked an incoming shuriken with a ringing sound of metal against metal. Another followed it and with eyes rather than just his ears determining its direction, he easily knocked it out of the and located its source, a large tree near the river with a hint of light blue clothing sticking out from the green leaves.

_Kayaku again_, he thought with disappointment. _I realize he doesn't have any special attacks, but this is just a repeat of his first attack, how disappointing, oh well…time to tie him up._

As Jiraiya began to move, he heard rumble and turned. From the opposite direction came a green sphere rolling down the ground at incredible speeds.

_Chouichi? He's using the Human Bullet Tank again, but at that speed, he won't be able to see my dodge or counterattack. _

At that moment, a spread of shuriken launched from the tree. He managed to turn back in time to block one and watched as one shuriken landed in the ground on each side of him.

_Are they working together!_ Jiraiya turned his head back and forth, keeping a careful eye on the tree and the incoming Chouichi. _The shuriken are supposed to limit my movements, allowing Chouichi to be able to make a hit. Smart, but its not going to work kiddies. _

He calmly stood, waiting for the human cannonball to get closer while blocking another spread of shuriken and then lunged closer to the river, knowing that the water would hinder Chouichi if he somehow managed to maneuver back around.

Another shuriken spread flew into the air, but Jiraiya easily ducked beneath their path and threw the kunai in his hand. He was careful this time, not to hit the patch of blue that he saw, but close enough to put some fear in the kid.

With the shrunken spread temporarily stopped, he dodged further and watched the large sphere roll right past him. Thinking he had dodged their attack, he stopped to speak, but he caught a flash of yellow running a short distance behind Chouichi, hidden by the larger form.

_Kayaku! _

Jiraiya's mind reeled, thinking that Kayaku had been the one throwing the shuriken in the opposite direction, but there was no mistaking the boy with spiky blond hair and determined blue eyes locked on Jiraiya, ready to attack.

* * *

Kayaku ran as fast as he could, following right behind Chouichi, making sure he was directly behind Chouichi from Jiraiya's perspective so he wouldn't be seen. Every time Chouichi adjusted his path, Kayaku moved with him. 

He only had one weapon, a kunai that actually belonged to Shinobu, the same one that nearly hit him in the head earlier in the day, but he tucked it into his holster.

Instead in his right hand was a ball of destruction bugs, courtesy of Shinobu. Their legs locked together to form the larger solid shape to makeit easier to carry them. He was careful not to wrap his fingers too tightly around them so he wouldn't hurt them, instead he attached them to his hand by using his chakra, which they greedily ate, forcing him to mold more chakra, leaving his hand with a blue glow.

From the short distance behind Chouichi, he was able to see Jiraiya dodge out of Chouichi's way and start to relax until he caught Kayaku coming in fast.

Kayaku released his chakra and let the ball of destruction bugs launch toward Jiraiya. The ball unraveled in the air and the bugs attached themselves to Jiraiya. With his speed, he got them closer to Jiraiya than Shinobu could have in her current state and Jiraiya didn't expect destruction bugs coming from Kayaku.

"What!" said Jiraiya in surprise. The older ninja turned and looked back at the tree, only to see Shinobu climbing out of it, wearing Kayaku's light blue sweat jacket. She ran forward to get closer to the others.

Jiraiya didn't have any time to waste as Kayaku continued his attack. The boy pulled out his kunai and although there was a huge difference in size between him and Jiraiya, he attacked, forcing Jiraiya to block with one of his own kunai. Distracted by Kayaku's attack, Jiraiya couldn't look for the bugs that were searching for the bells.

Kayaku kicked and landed a foot on Jiraiya's chest and twisted to bring his kunai down. Jiraiya easily blocked it and used his strength the boy's kunai completely out of the way, but to his surprise they boy didn't fall off. Instead, the boy began walking, with the faint glow of chakra on his feet as he attached himself to the much larger ninja like he was a tree.

Jiraiya almost lost his balance, moving closer to the edge of the river, as he wrestled with the boy climbing up him as if he was mountain, while trying to block the kunai that kept trying to stab him. The boy went at him almost with killing intent to keep him distracted from the bugs eating at the strings that held the bells.

Eventually Kayaku had gotten to the top, with his feet attached to the back of Jiraiya's shoulders, an arm wrapped around Jiriaya's neck, and a kunai very close to something important like Jiraiya's eyes and throat.

"Stop it, you brat!" warned Jiraiya. He grabbed a hold of Kayaku and managed to pull the boy off, but Kayaku twisted around upside down, dropped his kunai, and reached out for the bells. Destruction bugs covered the strings, eating through them and letting the bells fall, one into each of Kayaku's hands. Jiraiya frowned, "You're a stubborn one!"

Kayaku didn't even have time to give him a smile in victory as Chouichi attacked again, his cannonball shape speeding towards them.

The boy tried to warn Chouichi, "Wait, I've got the—"

Chouichi hit both of them hard with enough force that it knocked Kayaku out Jiraiya's hand and towards the river, which was only a few feet away.

"_Why_?" he managed to groan to himself, his plan had worked, but Chouichi wasn't suppose to attack like that.

Yet, Kayaku remembered his promise and despite the situation, he threw a bell from each hand with perfect aim to his teammates, one to Shinobu, and the other to Chouichi. They each caught their bell and watched with shocked looks as he fell into the river.

Kayaku hit the water splashed and he sank in right in. The river wasn't fast and didn't sweep him away, but the blow knocked all the air from his lungs and his limbs were feeling numb from the constant use of chakra, he continued to sink.

He felt like he was still falling. If he were falling from a tree he would extend a hand to use chakra to attach to the nearest limb, out of desperation the tried it, but in the water there was nothing to attach to.

His lungs burned as he watched his hand stretched above his head, glowing with chakra. In his panic, the chakra was unfocused, streaming out of his hand in every direction. The chakra managed to swirl around like a spiral, forming a whirlpool above his head.

All he could do was watch the small whirlpool, highlighted by the eerie light of his chakra, in his last moments before he lost consciousness.

* * *

The outline of the chakra filled whirlpool was still burning into his vision, even as he woke up, coughing up water. Whether his eyes were closed or not, he could see it. 

"He'll be fine," said Jiraiya as he patted Kayaku on the back.

The boy looked up and saw his teacher was soaked himself, no doubt from having to go in and rescue him. He looked around and saw the other watching him, each with a bell in their hand.

"Is it over," he managed to smile despite the coughing.

"Yes, its over," said his teacher with a grin. "Can you stand?"

Kayaku managed to get on his feet, although they wobbled a little, leaned back, and felt something hard behind him. He didn't even bother to look, as he tried to make the weakness go away, and he didn't even notice Jiraiya moving behind him.

Until a loop of a rope slid around him and tightened, he looked back in shock to see, he was standing right behind a log and Jiraiya was tying him to it!

"What!"

"You didn't get a bell, so you get to be tied to the log."

"But I thought teamwork was the whole point! We use teamwork to use the bells, so no one had to be tied to a log!"

"Idiot, what gave you that idea!" Jiraiya tied the rope multiple times around Kayaku and the log, making it secure enough that even a rope escape technique couldn't release it. "Besides, look at yourself, was it teamwork to nearly get killed? Now the rule was I was going to take the others to eat while you stayed tied up, I'll be back for you later."

Jiraiya walked away with the others following, he gave Kayaku once cryptic glance before leaving. Chouichi didn't even look at him, he was happy with the bell in his hand. Shinobu on the other hand, looked back with an uncertain expression, but reluctantly followed the others.

"Chouichi!" Kayaku managed to yell. "Why did you attack when the plan worked!"

The Akimichi boy turned around and looked at him with squinted eyes. "_My_ plan worked too."

"Your plan?"

"I didn't think someone like you would actually do it, but I thought you would be a good distraction so I could get a bell," said Chouichi simply as he turned and walked away.

Kayaku sagged against the rope. He was soaking wet, exhausted, and hungry, and he wasn't going anywhere. The rope was so tight that he couldn't even wiggle. All he had was time to think about what went wrong.

_An individual action that disrupts the teamwork will result in danger or even death for the teammates._

* * *

**Next Chapter – Conclusion (or maybe not)**

_Author's Note: Yep, I made Chouichi an evil genius, well he's not evil yet, but in the Naruto world all the genius types seem to go to the dark side unless their rescued by someone. I didn't originally intend to go this route, but Chouichi turned into a clone of gentle Chouji, which wasn't what I wanted at all. I decided to create some team conflicts by using his genius status. I think it wasn't totally out of the blue, because Chouichi did almost kill Shinobu in a previous chapter (he almost plowed into the tree she was tied to). _

_I wanted to sneak in Rasengan somehow, so I came up with something that looked like it. By using teamwork, Kayaku used his own speed to get Shinobu's bugs to where they needed to be, since Jiraiya wasn't expecting it coming from Kayaku he couldn't block it in time. The bugs made themselves portable by forming a sphere shape and Kayaku used chakra to attach them to his hand without crushing them. I suppose it could be called a Mushigan!_

_Sarutobi's bell test was clearly an individual effort and he wasn't teaching teamwork, so that is how Jiraiya taught it, but between then and Kakashi's test it had turned into a test about teamwork. Given the Fourth talked about teamwork being the most important thing, I decided he had to be the one who changed it. He didn't talk about it because of victory, but because it failed._

_One more chapter to go until the conclusion of the arc, just a sneak peak: while tied to the log it leaves Kayaku vulnerable to a new rival! _

* * *

Version 1.0 

1.0: Original


End file.
